OECD area inflation hits 7.2% in January, highest in 30 years

ANKARA

Annual inflation in the area of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) hit 7.2% in January for a record high in three decades.

The figure, which built from 6.6% in December 2021 and 1.6% in January 2021, once again reached its highest level of last 30 years in January 2022.

"This increase reflected in part another sharp rise in inflation in Turkey. Excluding Turkey, inflation in the OECD area rose to 5.8%, after 5.5% in December 2021," the OECD said in a statement.

While services prices accelerated markedly in most OECD countries, energy prices, and to a lesser extent food prices, continued to push the main reading up.

With food and energy excluded, year-on-year inflation rose to 5.1%, the highest rate since December 1992.

G20 annual inflation also climbed to 6.5% in the month, up from 6.1% in the previous month.

Inflation posted rise in most G7 economies, except in Germany and Japan, according to the OECD.

"The most significant increases between December 2021 to January 2022 were recorded in Italy, the United States and Canada with rises by 0.9, 0.5 and 0.3 percentage point respectively," it added.